The Marshall Football Disaster, Sewanee's football odyssey, and Zlatan's incredible bicycle - This DiSH for Nov. 14
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EPISODE SUMMARY
In 1970, the plane carrying Marshall's football crashed short of the runway, killing all 75 aboard.
In 1988, the plane carrying Davis Love, Jr, and three others crashed short of the Jacksonville, FL airport, killing all aboard.
In 1899, the Sewanee football team completed a tour of playing five games in six days. They won all of them and did not allow a single point to be scored on them.
In 2012, Zlatan Ibrahimovic hit an unreal bicycle kick in a international friendly between his Swedish National Team and England.
Here's the video of Zlatan's goal if you'd like to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM_5tJncHww
THIS DAY IN SPORTS BACKGROUND
Relive the greatest moments in sports every day of the year. From the triumphs to the tragedies, the first to do it to the last time it happened, the unbelievable to the strange, This Day in Sports History is a 365-day journey remembering those significant events that made a lasting impact.
STEVE WHITE BIO
The host of 'This DiSH' is me, Steve White. I've spent most of my life behind a microphone. As a kid, I realized the power of the spoken word, hanging out with my dad while we talked to people around the world via ham radio. Later, I put that penchant for communication into practice and ventured into radio and TV. I've worked for a few television stations in North Carolina doing sports reporting and anchoring before transitioning to voiceover in 2015.
'This Day in Sports History' evolved from a lifetime of watching, listening to, and going to ballgames, reading books, magazines, and newspaper articles about my favorite teams and sports heroes. It's not only a labor of love but a voyage of discovery, finding those forgotten tidbits or fascinating things I never knew.
Takeaways:
- The tragic plane crash of Southern Airways Flight 932 in 1970 claimed the lives of 75 individuals, leaving a lasting impact on the Marshall University community.
- On November 14th, the Marshall Thundering Herd football team faced a heartbreaking loss before their ill-fated flight home, highlighting the fragility of life in sports.
- Survivor's guilt affected many who were supposed to be on the flight but weren't, showcasing the emotional toll of such tragedies.
- The story of the Marshall football team is remembered annually, with memorial services honoring the lives lost in the crash.
- Sewanee football team achieved an incredible feat in 1899 by winning five consecutive games in just six days without being scored on.
- Zlatan Ibrahimovic's stunning bicycle kick goal against England in 2012 remains one of the most remarkable moments in soccer history.
Mentioned in this episode:
Hockey Hall of Fame True Stories 2
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Transcript
It's November 14th and this is a somber day on the sports calendar.
Speaker A: On this day in: Speaker A:Southern Airways Flight 932 took off from Kingston's Stallings Field, carrying 37 Thundering Herd football players, eight staff and 25 athletic boosters.
Speaker A: After Marshall's: Speaker A:In the final minute of the game, Marshall had the football at the Pirate 25 yard line.
Speaker A:On third down, quarterback Ted Shubrich dropped back to pass, but feeling the pressure, he threw the ball out to the flat that landed at the feet of a Marshall receiver in the area.
Speaker A:The referee called intentional grounding though, and it forced Marshall out of field goal range and a long pass down the field on fourth down fell incomplete.
Speaker A:East Carolina ran out the clock.
Speaker A:Ballgame over.
Speaker A:The plane was a DC9 with two pilots, two flight attendants and the charter coordinator.
Speaker A:It was a bit unusual for Marshall to fly in the first place.
Speaker A:The three other road games they'd played so far had all been in Ohio and so a fairly easy bus ride.
Speaker A:Add to that, there were lingering doubts to even charter this flight.
Speaker A:Memories were still fresh of the plane crash carrying members of the Wichita State football team in October that killed 31.
Speaker A:As Southern Airways Flight 932 approached Tri State Airport at 7:23pm radio contact with the tower was established and they advised the crew that rain, fog, smoke and a ragged ceiling were at the airport, making landing more difficult.
Speaker A:Thought possible.
Speaker A:The pilot, though, had never landed a plane at West Virginia's Tri State Airport.
Speaker A:At 7:34, the plane passed the airport's outer marker and was given clearance to land.
Speaker A:But the plane did not descend to the proper altitude and hold.
Speaker A:Instead, with limited visibility, the plane continued its descent.
Speaker A:The flight crew was unaware of any issues until just before impact, it hit the tops of trees west of their intended Runway and crashed nose first before bursting into flames.
Speaker A:It is the worst single disaster in U.S.
Speaker A:sports history.
Speaker A:Defensive coordinator Red Dawson was never scheduled to be on that flight.
Speaker A:He had driven to the game with the intent to go on a recruiting visit to Ferrum Junior College.
Speaker A:After the East Carolina game, he and assistant coach Gail Parker heard about the crash on their way to Ferrum.
Speaker A:Parker had flown down on the plane, but he had switched seats with assistant coach Deke Brackett for the return trip.
Speaker A:Defensive back Nate Ruffin had injured his arm but was originally scheduled to make the trip even though he wouldn't play.
Speaker A:At the last minute, his seat was given to a football donor.
Speaker A:Defensive lineman Ed Carter would have been on the flight if not for the death of his father and a premonition by his mother.
Speaker A:Carter had flown to Texas for his father's funeral.
Speaker A:His original intention was to fly to North Carolina and play in the game, but his mother begged him to stay a few extra days.
Speaker A:Carter said, she told me she did not want me to be on the plane my team would be on because she felt the plane was going to crash.
Speaker A:I was taught as a child to obey my parents.
Speaker A:That lesson I learned kept me from getting on that plane.
Speaker A:However, Carter's name was on the passenger list and was listed among the dead.
Speaker A:Initially, Rick Tagling should have been on the trip, but he overslept and he missed the bus to the airport.
Speaker A:The entire state went into mourning.
Speaker A:The survivors who felt like they should have been on that plane but weren't, struggled with survivors guilt.
Speaker A:Dawson was named interim head coach until Jack Lingle was brought in to rebuild the program.
Speaker A:Dawson stayed as an assistant coach for the 71 season, but retired from football after that and never coached again.
Speaker A: Nate Ruffin, was released in: Speaker A:Just outside the student center on Marshall's campus, there's the memorial fountain.
Speaker A: lives lost on this day in: Speaker A: On this day in: Speaker A:And three others crashed just shy of the Runway in Jacksonville, Florida.
Speaker A:There were no survivors.
Speaker A:Love Jr.
Speaker A:Had been a professional golfer and was a certified teaching professional.
Speaker A: a tie for sixth place at the: Speaker A:Anne's he'd won a couple of tournaments earlier in the 60s, such as the Carolinas Open and the Georgia PGA Championship.
Speaker A:He had a beautiful golf swing and he passed that on to his son.
Speaker A: al was starting to blossom in: Speaker A:On this day, 53 year old Davis Love Jr 37 year old John Papa, 35 year old Jimmy Hodges and 39 year old Pilot Chip Worthington took off from St.
Speaker A:Simon's island en route to Jacksonville International Airport.
Speaker A:Now it's only about 75 miles from St.
Speaker A:Simons to Jacksonville, so a little over an hour drive, the flight would take about 20 minutes.
Speaker A:The short flight allowed the four men to spend a little extra time with their families.
Speaker A:And when the plane took off from St.
Speaker A:Simons at 8:23pm the sky was clear.
Speaker A:A pre flight check of the weather in Jacksonville was either 5 miles visibility with some haze or 2 miles with fog, depending on the exact time that Worthington checked in.
Speaker A:He didn't know it at the time, but conditions were deteriorating rapidly.
Speaker A:He filed a visual flight rules plan.
Speaker A:The fog got worse in Jacksonville.
Speaker A:At 8:39, the Jacksonville Tower told Worthington he was cleared for Runway seven.
Speaker A:At 8:52pm the plane was a mile out from the airport when Worthington keyed the mic for the last radio transmission.
Speaker A:The plane never arrived at the airport.
Speaker A: Instead, the plane crashed: Speaker A:And it wasn't until the following morning when the fog finally lifted, that the plane was discovered.
Speaker A: On this day in: Speaker A:And not only that, they were not scored on during that stretch.
Speaker A:Sewanee, also known as the University of the south, were the Tigers, and they were a force in college football right around the turn of the 20th century.
Speaker A:They started off the season with wins at Georgia and Georgia Tech.
Speaker A:Followed that up with a win against the Tennessee Volunteers and another against Southwestern Presbyterian.
Speaker A:They won those games by a combined score of 144 nothing.
Speaker A:And then they embarked on a Southwestern football odyssey that is equal parts amazing for its quantity, brevity and success.
Speaker A:This swing of games in such a short time span came about because of a disagreement Sewanee had with Vanderbilt about the sharing of gate receipts.
Speaker A:That game, originally scheduled for November 25, got scrubbed from the 99 schedule.
Speaker A:And as a way to make up for the lost revenue, the team went on a barnstorming like adventure.
Speaker A:The Tigers first game on the journey was Nov.
Speaker A:9 at the University of Texas.
Speaker A:In front of about 2,500 people, they dispatched of the Longhorns 12 to nothing.
Speaker A:From Austin, they headed south to Houston to play Texas A and M the following day.
Speaker A:And they won that one.
Speaker A:Tenzeb back on the train to New Orleans for a game against tulane on the 11th, which the Tigers won 23, 0.
Speaker A:They took the next day off traveling to Baton Rouge.
Speaker A:To play the LSU Tigers.
Speaker A:That was a 340 win for Sewanee and then back on the train again to Memphis, Tennessee for a neutral site game against Ole Miss.
Speaker A:On this day Sewanee wrapped up their trip with a 12 nothing win.
Speaker A:Five wins in six days by a combined score of 91 0.
Speaker A:And with Sewanee being an Episcopal based school, it's only fitting to add and on the seventh day they rested.
Speaker A:So surely they had a large roster of guys, right?
Speaker A:I mean five games in a week.
Speaker A:They needed a lot of subs.
Speaker A:They did not.
Speaker A:They only had 18 players that made the 2,500 mile journey earning them the nickname the Ironman.
Speaker A:They resumed a more reasonable schedule of games and closed out the season with wins against Cumberland, Auburn and North Carolina.
Speaker A: n long and those coming in an: Speaker A:And the only reason that this goal is not more highly celebrated than it already is is that it happened in an international friendly so this is Ibra's Swedish national team playing England.
Speaker A:Sweden led 3:2 thanks to Ibra's hat trick.
Speaker A:Already with four minutes of added time just added to the second half clock, a ball was played over the top from the middle third of the field.
Speaker A:Zlatan was covered but he was running towards that spot.
Speaker A:The ball took a high bounce off the turf.
Speaker A:England goalkeeper Joe Hart was five yards outside his box and so he couldn't touch it with his hands.
Speaker A:His header was fairly weak.
Speaker A:Zlatan saw Hart coming and after working out the scenario in his head, he stopped, backed up a few steps and when Hart's weak header came over the top of his head, he turned his back to the goal, ran to it and went full on bicycle kick from 32 and a half yards out.
Speaker A:Ibrahimovic struck the ball with his right foot, sending the ball arcing towards the goal.
Speaker A:Hart was too far out to have any chance to get to it.
Speaker A:A lone English defender tried to save it off the line, but it was simply too perfect to be stopped.
Speaker A:It was his fourth goal of the day and simply astonishing to watch.
Speaker A:Whether you've seen this goal a thousand times or never, it is worth a watch every time.
Speaker A:And I've put a link to the YouTube video in the show Notes and time now for today's Nothing to Do With Sports.
Speaker A:Did you know?
Speaker A:And with all the talk about planes crashing in this episode.
Speaker A:I thought I'd include one more which actually had survivors.
Speaker A: ry, survived a plane crash in: Speaker A:He was the third officer of Pan Am Flight 121 that crashed into the Syrian desert.
Speaker A:Fifteen people, seven crew and eight passengers were killed.
Speaker A:As the highest ranking surviving officer, Roddenberry led people off the burning wreckage and then organized scout parties.
Speaker A:They were eventually rescued by the Syrian army.
Speaker A:Soon after, he left Pan Am to pursue his dream of being a Screenwri.
Speaker A:Okay, it seems like a good time to assure you that despite today's episode, traveling by plane is still the safest way to travel.
Speaker A:The odds of dying in a plane crash are about 1 in 13.7 million these days.
Speaker A:So buckle up and enjoy the friendly skies.
Speaker A:That's all I've got for you today.
Speaker A:Come on back tomorrow for an episode of this Day in Sports History.
Speaker A:Hang on a second, let me check.
Speaker A:Yeah, an episode where nobody dies.
Speaker A:This has been an original Thrive Suite production.
